Happy Monday, everyone! After spending four weekends in a row traveling for family events, Joe and I were incredibly excited to have a weekend at home. Although I love traveling and taking part in all that is going on with our family, it’s amazing how filled-up a couple days of fun and relaxation can make you feel. This weekend the Grinnell Games, a small two-day festival, took place in our little town. Grinnell doesn’t have much going on most weekends, … Read More

Thank you to everyone who entered the Savory Sweet Life Cookbook giveaway! The winner is announced at the end of this post. But before I get to that, I wanted to talk a little bit about food photography. I’ll be the first to admit that my photos aren’t anywhere near those of some other amazing food bloggers. Since I work full-time, I’m limited with when and where I can photograph recipes, and don’t even get me started on winter food … Read More

I’d like to take a minute to introduce you to someone I feel like I know, Alice Currah. Alice, who blogs at Savory Sweet Life, has a passion for food and feeding people that’s hard to miss when you visit her site. I’ve exchanged Tweets and blog comments with Alice for a while now, and was trilled when she announced that she was publishing a cookbook. As a mother of three kids, I anticipated the recipes in her book to … Read More

Today’s “No Fat Talk” post is a first and comes to us from a male reader! I’m excited to share with you a different perspective and face to fat talk today. I’m not sure how many guys read Espresso and Cream, but I think that both men and women can learn a lot by reading Tyler’s story. It really made me realize that although I tend to think guys are immune to talking negatively about their bodies, that’s simply not … Read More

Hey everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend. Joe and I are on our way back from visiting Jason and Ali in Kansas City and helping them move into their new apartment and I’m now (er…was) blogging from the car. Thank you so much for your helpful words and advice about racing in Friday’s post. I kept all your tips in mind as we ran, and am happy to report that I had a really successful race. Instead of … Read More

Last weekend Joe’s little brother Jason and his fiancee Ali graduated from college at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Both Joe, his older sister Amber and her husband Jake graduated from Bethel, and I spent my freshman year of college up there. It was crazy to think that the last of the Hofmeyer siblings have now graduated from Bethel (and that I’m the only one of them who didn’t graduate from Bethel!) Jason and Ali are getting married in … Read More

I don’t know about you, but now that we’re nearing the halfway point of the year I’ve been feeling the need to re-commit myself to my “No Fat Talk” pledge for 2012. Over the past couple months, I’ve found myself mumbling unkind words about my body or myself under my breath. Or letting a “Do my thighs look huge in this?” to Joe here and there. It may not seem like a big deal, but I want to stop these … Read More

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! I hope you’re enjoying the long weekend and taking some time to reflect on the sacrifices made by the amazing men and women who serve and have served our country. I wanted to take a little time to introduce you to the shiny new look of Espresso and Cream! If you typically read posts in Google Reader, take a minute to hop on over to the site and check it out. This re-design has been a … Read More

{Snapping a few photos while waiting for our table to be ready on date night last week.} {My first hole of golf for the season. Not a bad first shot, considering I don’t golf much!} {Work has been crazy, and my stack of magazines is piling up. Perhaps I’ll dig though some of them on my long weekend?} {Clean clothes, warm from the dryer + cuddly dog = fur-covered towels that need to be washed again. But she was too … Read More

This week the kind folks at Larabar sent me a package of their new Uber bars to sample. I’ve been a huge fan of Larabars for years, and I was excited to give the new variety a try. In college, I lived on all sorts of protein bars and nutrition bars, which was far from healthy or balanced. Today, they help with the 3:30 ‘crash’ and provide the nutrition to get me through my evening workouts before dinner. My favorite … Read More

A couple weeks ago at work, the almond board of California came to talk with us at work and give us some samples of their amazing products. Did you have any idea that 80% of the almonds produced worldwide come from California? They left us each with a little swag bag, and I found myself with a large bag of almonds. Instead of eating them straight out of the bag, I decided to get a little creative with the almonds … Read More